Channelofhealing

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank You Holy Spirit for always being there

Thank You Father, for bringing us thus far…even unto the end of the year 2009, we are confident you will see us through it all in Jesus Christ’s Name we Pray.  Thank you keeping us safe  and sound, Thank you for defeating our enemies and making a total mockery of the devils efforts to stop us from reaching our goals… We are indeed grateful for everything.

Channelofhealing wishes you, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year, May you dreams and aspirations be fulfilled this coming year, May you make the right and best decisions for your life this coming year and May the presence of the Lord and the Holy Spirit never leave you in Jesus Mighty Name Amen

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!

Is your defense, your works? You know Jesus but, Does Jesus know You? Turn away from trusting in your own good deeds, and cast your whole self upon Christ. Brethren,You have to listen to this video of Paul Washer, this is problem we all face today, many ask why won’t God just allow people into Heaven when they die, after all they were good Christians while on earth, one cannot be tired of explaining this to people especially new Christians… maybe with this would change that line of thought…I found it resoundingly refreshing to hear again.

from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "The Incomparable Bridegroom and His Bride," a sermon preached on Sunday evening, 10 June 1866, at the Met Tab.

Christians, be troublesome to the world! O house of Israel, be like a burdensome stone to the world! You are not sent here to be recognized as honorable citizens of this world, to be petted and well-treated.
Even Christ himself, the peaceable One, said, "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
What I mean is this, we are not to be quiet about our religion. The world says to us, "Hold your tongue about religion, or at least talk about it at fit times; but do not introduce it at all seasons so as to become a pest and a nuisance."
I say again, and you know in what sense I mean it, be a nuisance to the world; be such a man that worldlings will be compelled to feel that there is a Christian in their midst.
An officer was walking out of the royal presence on one occasion, when he tripped over his sword. The king said to him, "Your sword is rather a nuisance." "Yes," was the officer’s reply, "your majesty’s enemies have often said so."
May you be a nuisance to the world in that sense, troublesome to the enemies of the King of kings! While your conduct should be courteous, and everything that could be desired as between man and man, yet let your testimony for Christ be given without any flinching and without any mincing of the matter.
CH Spurgeon

MY COMMENT:

THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A CHRIST CENTERED CHURCH!!! I know they would not be Preaching anything about Christ and man’s need for repentance any time soon.

Farzana Hassan, a past president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, has been hired by Mississauga’s Unitarian Congregation to run children and youth programs for the church.

By: Radhika Panjwani April 17, 2009 05:51 PM A non-denominational Mississauga church known for its liberal religious practices has taken the unusual step of hiring an outspoken Muslim woman to run its youth programs.
The Unitarian Congregation announced yesterday it has appointed Farzana Hassan as director of spiritual exploration.
Hassan is a well-known author and poet and an outspoken activist who has butted heads with orthodox imams on issues such as hijab, polygamy and terrorism.
The Mississauga resident is also a past president of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
Hassan will be responsible for introducing and running children and youth programs for the church.
This is not the first controversial move for the congregation. In 1982, it invited an openly-gay member, Mark DeWolfe, to become a minister.
“It’s probably the first time that a mainstream congregation in North America has chosen a Muslim,” said the Rev. Jeff Brown, of his church’s appointment. “I am not aware of it having happened before. This is the congregation that does that.”
When the 150-strong congregation was looking to hire, said Brown, they felt Hassan was a perfect candidate because she reflects the diversity that exists in Peel.
Hassan says the Unitarian Universalists are the most inclusive of churches and that her own traditions and values are in sync with those practiced there, a reason she jumped at the opportunity to work with them.
“Universalistic tradition is a pluralist and humanist tradition,” Hassan said. “And these are values that I have espoused in some of the initiatives I’ve undertaken. I just plan to bring that experience to the church and articulate those values for the children in ways that are more meaningful to them. I don’t find any conflict in the values I stand for and the values of the church.”
Unitarian Universalism, Brown explained, is a theologically-liberal religion that draws wisdom and meaning from the direct experience of individuals. Its followers seek inspiration from many different theological sources and have a wide range of beliefs and practices.
But historically their roots can be traced to Christian Protestants.
“When people ask us what our scripture is, I say it’s the whole of the world. It’s our experience, contemporary writings and wisdom literature,” Brown said.

Church promotes social media during sermon

MATTHEWS, N.C. – Leaders of a Charlotte-area church told members to bring their phones and data devices to Easter Sunday service and post to Twitter throughout the sermon.

Next Level Church’s pastor said the church has a responsibility to take advantage of every technological advance.The congregation was urged to post minute-by-minute updates to their Twitter accounts to allow members across the room to broadcast in real time how the message was touching them.

“People who didn’t get to make the service get the opportunity to see what notes I’m taking and what’s going on here in the service,” church member Robbie McLaughlin said.

The idea came from Lead Pastor Todd Hahn, who said social networking sties like Twitter are evidence of “a real desire in our community and our city for human connection.”

“We want to leverage everything that happens technologically in our culture to help people to God and to teach each other,” Hahn said.

Members said they don’t view “tweeting” about their experiences during service a distraction. Even if they get an e-mail or text message unrelated to the sermon, they said their focus is on a higher power.

“You should be free to worship in whatever way you feel is appropriate and right,” church member Carol Grubbs said.

Next Level Church said it has created controversy with its innovative outreach efforts in the past, including distributing shot glasses with the church logo at area bars. But leaders said the congregation has grown consistently to what is currently nearly 1,000 members.

I wonder what the results would be like elsewhere, say in Europe and in Africa?

By Jennifer Riley , Christian Post Reporter Mon, Apr. 13 2009 02:59 PM EDT

 The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, the latest Barna survey found.

Nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found.

Forty percent strongly agreed with the statement while 19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed.

In contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians believe Satan is real. Twenty-six percent strongly disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely symbolic and about one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat disagreed.

The remaining eight percent of American Christians responded they were unsure what to believe about the existence of Satan.

Interestingly, the majority of Christians believe a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits, even though many of these same people believe Satan is merely a symbol of evil. Two out of three Christians agreed that such forces are real (39 percent agreed strongly, 25 percent agreed somewhat).

Likewise, most Christians in the United States do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force. Fifty-eight percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is "a symbol of God’s power or presence but is not a living entity."

Only one-third of Christians disagreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is not just symbolic (9 percent disagreed somewhat, 25 percent disagreed strongly). Nine percent expressed they were unsure.

Interestingly, about half (49 percent) of those who agreed that the Holy Spirit is only a symbol but not a living entity, agreed that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. The Bible states that the Holy Spirit is God’s power or presence, not just symbolic.

"Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world," commented George Barna, founder of The Barna Group and author of books analyzing research concerning America’s faith.

"Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are," he said. "It’s hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces."

But a large majority of American Christians agree that a person must choose to side with either good or evil. More than six out of ten American Christians strongly agreed (61 percent) with the idea that a person must either side with God or with the devil – that there is no in-between position. Another 15 percent somewhat agreed.

Just one out of ten adults disagreed somewhat (10 percent) and a similar proportion (11 percent) strongly disagreed. Only a few adults (3 percent) did not have an opinion on the issue.

Barna explained that because of the "sheer force of repetition" many Americans "intellectually" accept the idea that you either side with God or Satan and there’s no in-between, even though this idea does "not get translated into practice."

Other survey findings include a significant number of self-described Christians believing that Jesus sinned when he lived on earth, contrary to the core teaching of Christianity that teaches the divinity and perfection of Jesus.

More than one-fifth (22 percent) strongly agreed that Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on earth, with an additional 17 percent agreeing somewhat.

However, nearly half of American Christians (46 percent) strongly disagreed with the idea that Jesus sinned, and 9 percent disagreed somewhat. Six percent did not have an opinion on the statement.

The Barna report is based on telephone interviews for two surveys among people who described themselves as Christians. A total of 1,871 adults were randomly selected from across the 48 continental states, with the first 873 interviews conducted in January and February 2008, and the remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008.

Related

Many Christians Claim Unbiblical Spiritual Gifts, Survey Finds

Survey: Less Than 1 Percent of Young Adults Hold Biblical Worldview

Preachers, Philosopher Square Off in ABC Debate on Satan

Evangelical leaders say they are bewildered and stunned by the Rev. Rick Warren’s apparent turnaround on gay marriage after the famous California pastor said earlier this week that he was not a proponent of California’s Proposition 8.

Mr. Warren told CNN’s Larry King on Monday that he "never once even gave an endorsement" of the proposition, which said marriage in the state could only involve one man and one woman. The measure won at the polls last November by a close margin, in effect negating an earlier California Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriages.

Proponents of the proposition had gathered from earlier comments that Mr. Warren stood with them on the issue, and they reacted vigorously to his CNN interview.

"I was extremely troubled by the way he appeared to be so anxious to distance himself from the same-sex issue and to make clear he was not an ‘activist’ and that he’d only addressed the issue in a very minor way," said the Rev. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said his denial is "absolutely baffling."

"Whether he supports Proposition 8 now, after the fact, is overshadowed by the bizarre claim that he did not say what the evidence so clearly proves he said."

What Mr. Warren said he did do was send out a video to his 22,000-member church explaining his position the week before Proposition 8 went before state voters on Nov. 4.

"Now let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8," he said on the video, "and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues, I come out very clear."

In his conversation with Mr. King, Mr. Warren said, "All of a sudden out of it, [opponents] made me something that I really wasn’t. And I actually — there were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends — the leaders that I knew — and actually apologized to them. That never got out."

Named in 2005 by Time magazine as one of America’s top 25 evangelicals and dubbed by some as "the next Billy Graham," Mr. Warren soared to nationwide prominence last August when he hosted a TV debate between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

He was placed even more in the spotlight when newly elected President Obama announced that Mr. Warren would deliver the opening prayer at his inauguration. Gay activists condemned the selection chiefly because of the pastor’s apparent support of Proposition 8.

At the time, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization, cited Mr. Warren’s opposition to gay marriage as a sign of intolerance.

"We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination," the group said in a letter to Obama, asking him to reconsider.

Christianity Today magazine on April 7 pressed Mr. Warren about whether his CNN remarks contradicted the video sent to his congregration.

"It was a pastor talking to his own people," he replied. "I’ve never said anything about it since. I don’t know how you can take one video newsletter to your own church and turn that into — all of a sudden I’m the poster boy for anti-gay marriage."

Saddleback Church, where Mr. Warren is pastor, released a clarification on April 9 to the evangelical-oriented CBN.com, saying the pastor’s remarks on CNN were not in reference to the video but "to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state."

Still, evangelicals point to a bigger issue brought about by Mr. Warren.

"This is a major distraction in this battle for the culture we are experiencing," said Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville and founder of the High Impact Leadership Coalition of 5,000 black and Hispanic evangelical leaders. "I really respect Pastor Warren, but his stance will hurt the evangelical church. He is being politically correct instead of biblically courageous."

Posted: April 07, 2009,11:30 pm Eastern© 2009 WorldNet Daily .Christian college creates homosexual housing: ‘It’s a chance for students to be part of a unique experience’.

Texas Christian University

The church-affiliated Texas Christian University has announced plans to allocate apartment housing on its Fort Worth campus for homosexual students and their supporters.

According to a report in the city’s Star-Telegram newspaper, the school plans to open a section of the Tom Brown-Pete Wright apartments for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students and allies."

The school also will have two living groups that are designated "Christian-based" and others for fine arts and other themes, the report said.

"It’s a chance for students to be part of a unique experience," David Cooper, associate chief of residential life, told the newspaper.

Shelly Newkirk, a TCU sophomore who applied to create the homosexual residence lifestyle, told the newspaper her vision is that homosexuals and straight students will interact and hang out.

Cooper said the university opened its "living-learning communities" to student ideas.

Others coming up include the "Leadership and Strengths Community" for those who want to lead, environmentalists who are collecting in the "Green House" and the Health and Wellness Community.

"I think it’s wonderful that TCU is offering this," Nancy Tubbs of the LGBT Resource Center at the University of California-Riverside told the paper.

The report said a fraternity for homosexuals opened at the University of North Texas in 1998 but lasted only a few years before closing.

On the paper’s forum page, the reaction ranged widely.

"So let me get this straight. TCU now supports segregation?" wrote one contributor.

"Some of you will no doubt be SHOCKED to learn that ‘Christian’ does not necessarily mean ‘anti-gay.’ TCU is affiliated with the Christian (sic) Church (Disciples of Christ), a denomination that does not have anti-gay policies. … I’m just glad that some are trying to turn ‘Christian’ back into a term for love rather than the curse word that so many of you have caused it to be," said another.

Yet another was terse: "sick."

"The Gay Agenda: It’s Dividing the Family, the Church, and a Nation"

University to student: Endorse being ‘gay’ or leave

‘Hetero’ gal benched ‘for not being lesbian’

My COMMENT:

HAVE MERCY ON US, OH LORD!!! DO NOT DESTROY US IN THINE ANGER!

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) — Ann Holmes Redding has what could be called a crisis of faiths.

Ann Holmes Redding says she sees no contradiction in being both a Christian minister and a Muslim. For nearly 30 years, Redding has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. Her priesthood ended Wednesday when she was defrocked.

The reason? For the past three years Redding has been both a practicing Christian and a Muslim.

"Had anyone told me in February 2006 that I would be a Muslim before April rolled around, I would have shaken my head in concern for the person’s mental health," Redding recently told a crowd at a signing for a book she co-authored on religion.

Redding said her conversion to Islam was sparked by an interfaith gathering she attended three years ago. During the meeting, an imam demonstrated Muslim chants and meditation to the group. Redding said the beauty of the moment and the imam’s humbleness before God stuck with her.

"It was much more this overwhelming conviction that I needed to surrender to God and this was the form that my surrender needed to take," she recalled. "It wasn’t just an episode but …. was a step that I wasn’t going to step back from."

Ten days later Redding was saying the shahada — the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Mohammad as his prophet.

But Redding said she felt her new Muslim faith did not pose a contradiction to her staying a Christian and minister.

"Both religions say there’s only one God," Redding said, "and that God is the same God. It’s very clear we are talking about the same God! So I haven’t shifted my allegiance." Watch Redding say, "Being a Muslim makes me a better Christian" »     

The imam at the Islamic Center in Seattle, Washington, where Redding prays said she brings the best of both traditions to her beliefs.

"Coming from an example of wanting to be Christ-like and coming from the perspective of wanting to follow the best example — the example of our prophet Mohammed — it all makes sense then," Benjamin Shabazz said.

There are many contradictions between the two religions. While Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet, Christianity worships him as the son of God.

• Diocese statement on defrocking Redding (PDF)

James Wellman, who chairs the department of comparative religion at the University of Washington, said that while it is not unusual for people to "mix and match" beliefs, it is almost unheard of for a minister to claim two religions.

"When you take ordination as a Christian minister, you take an explicit vow of loyalty to Jesus. It’s hard for me to understand how a Christian minister could have dual loyalties," Wellman said.

Redding said she sees the theological conflicts but that the two religions, at their core, "illuminate" each other.

"When I took my shahada, I said there’s no God but God and that Mohammed is God’s prophet or messenger. Neither of those statements, neither part of that confession or profession denies anything about Christianity," she said.

To her parishioners and family, though, Redding has turned her back on her faith and office. There was, she said, "universal puzzlement" at her decision to convert to Islam but still remain an Episcopal minister.

"I have people who love me very much who really don’t want me to do this, and I love them very much. And I would love to be able to say, ‘Because I love you I will renounce my orders’ or ‘I will renounce Islam’ … I hate causing pain to people who love me, that’s not my intention," Redding said.

The Episcopal Church also rejected Redding’s religious choice.

"The church interprets my being a Muslim as ‘abandoning the church,’ " she said. "And that [there] comes an understanding that you have to be one or the other, and most people would say that. It simply hasn’t been my experience that I have to make a choice between the two."

The Diocese of Rhode Island, where Redding was ordained, told her to leave either her new Muslim faith or the ministry. A diocese statement said Bishop Geralyn Wolf found Redding to be "a woman of utmost integrity. However, the Bishop believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim."

Even though she has been defrocked, Redding said she is not capable of turning her back on either faith. She said she wants to continue speaking about and teaching religion and perhaps even travel to the Hajj, a journey to Mecca that every Muslim is supposed to make in their lifetime.

Redding said she does not want her belief in two religions to diminish the value she holds for both Christianity and Islam. Each faith by itself is enough to fulfill a person spiritually, she said.

"It’s all there. I am not saying you have to go somewhere else to be complete. Some people don’t need glasses, some people need single lenses. I need bifocals."

Culled from sister sherri watts of the blog Beaboutyourfathersbusiness she says:  Opposite the seven deadly sins is what is called the seven heavenly virtues. As with many virtues talked about in the bible, there is a vice at the opposite end of each of these. On one end of what is good also on the polar opposite end has that which is bad.
Here is a list of the virtues and vices we will be taking a closer look at in the coming days.

 The Virtue of Chastity vs. the vice of Lust
The Virtue of Temperance vs. the vice of Gluttony
The Virtue of Charity vs. the vice of Greed
The Virtue of Diligence vs. the vice of Laziness
The Virtue of Patience vs. the vice of Anger
The Virtue of Kindness vs. the vice of Envy
The Virtue of Humility vs. the vice of Pride

From time to time as the Lord leads will be taking posts from friends blogs and reposting them here for others to see and be blessed even as I have been blessed by them too.

Halleluyah in the Higher to the living God